According to some of the members, the energy and overall team atmosphere are some of the best parts of being on Cross Country.
“Everything’s informal in the sense that we’re all able to talk, but at the same time we’re working hard and helping each other work hard and doing really well,” sophomore Maxwell Carpenter said.
According to freshman Patrick Lynch, all of the runners, despite grade level or skill level, are able to communicate easily and get along.
“When you go to the meets, everybody hangs out until their race and there’s a lot to talk about,” Lynch said.
Even the coaches have noticed improvements in runners’ performances at the meets.
“Coach [General] sees something in our group that he hasn’t really seen before,” senior Sydney Stenseth said. “Our first meet was the best showing he’s had in his career at Marshall. He’s been pushing us harder this season than last season.”
According to new assistant coach Gabi Rangel-Lafuente, General said that the first meet this year was the best since he started coaching here. A couple freshmen stepped up and really stood out in that first meet.
Due to the coach’s confidence in the team’s abilities, the practices have become harder this season.
“Last year we did more distance workouts and different types of repeats,” Stenseth said. “This time we’re working more on speed repeats and more speed work and increasing the mileage.”
The practices are organized in order to put the runners in the best condition possible by the time that every meet rolls around.
“We usually have a harder practice in the middle of the week, and the day before the meet usually isn’t that hard, so [we can focus on] preparing and hydrating,” Lynch said.
The coaches develop the practices gradually over the course of the season in order to improve the running skills in the best ways possible.
“Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of hill work,” Rangel-Lafuente said, adding that in the beginning of the season, “a lot of the focus is on endurance … but now the focus is on the kick at the end of the race.”
“We do hill work to make [the runners] stronger, and [we push] them for that end part of the race,” Rangel-Lafuente said.
Another evident change for this year’s Cross Country team is the rise in talent from freshmen.
The increase in number of freshmen runners has not only excited the team, but also been a motivating tactic for the upperclassmen.
“It has encouraged me to run faster,” sophomore Maxwell Carpenter said.
The incoming freshmen have hopes of running at even faster times than in previous years, and have already began succeeding in this goal, such as with freshman Patrick Lynch’s fifth place time of 17:14.0.
“[The team has] a lot of talent; we just haven’t really gotten a chance to show it yet,” freshman Patrick Lynch said. “We’re going to be good; it’s just a matter of time.”
In addition to the freshmen, three new coaches have joined the team this year as well, creating ease during practices and meets.
The additions to the coaching staff have improved the one-on-one interactions between runners and coaches.
“We’re getting to know the athletes and what they respond to well, like some respond to praise well, but some respond to criticism better, so it’s learning [about] that, too,” assistant coach Esther Horner said.